Saturday

I'm still alive....

Hello long lost internet friends. I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since my last post.

Well, I've certainly been busy.. or preoccupied anyway.

As if moving to a remote northern village isn't scary enough, but starting to work as an independent doctor up here... straight out of training... now that's terrifying! That's the real reason I haven't had the time or energy to post on the blog lately. I've been working for the past 12 days straight, and spending my evenings reading medical textbooks about illnesses I never thought I'd ever have to deal with.

But I finally have an entire weekend off to do some more exploring (and some much needed sleeping).

Here's what I've been up to lately...

I've been riding my bike everywhere... they get 9 months of winter up here, so I have to soak up the warmth while I can! The days are very long, and it doesn't get fully dark until around 2-3am... which is very cool to experience, but it also means that I haven't been able to see any northern lights yet.

There is a little grocery/general store up here where I can buy semi-fresh produce. I find myself becoming much more reliant on my own cooking and baking. I've started baking my own bread (in a bread machine) and growing herbs and sprouts in my windowsill. I didn't think of bringing up plant pots, so I'm using tin cans to grow basil out of.

I've become very aware of all the little luxuries I took for granted while living in a big city. It's very humbling.

They other day I realized I was experiencing shopping withdrawal.

I was wandering down the aisles of The Northern (that's the grocery/general store) desperately looking for something to buy... Anything! I even caught myself longingly looking at a Glade plug-in! I settled on a little dish scrubbie-thingy and a chocolate bar, and I surprisingly felt better!

And then I realized how ridiculous that was.

As I write this post, I realize that I've only shared pictures of the beautiful side of things up here. And it is beautiful, but there's a lot of less beautiful sights and realities as well. I'll try to take some pictures of the actual village this weekend.

Wow, you must have good black out curtains! I love your retail therapy anecdote. I can understand how that would be humbling. I so admire you for taking on a very different kind of life. I'm sure it's an adjustment to be sure to it's inspiring.

I can't help but wonder what peculiar things you might be reading! My sister used to work at the Children's in MTL and she was working with a native toddler flown in from Northern QC who had maple syrup urine disease, I found that quite interesting.

What an exciting adventure for you!My mum is a nurse in a northern nursing station in MB so I hear all about life there..oh and about The Northern Store too..she is lucky to do 2 weeks on/2 weeks off so the day before she flies out always includes a big grocery shop to hold her over up there! I look foward to seeing the rest of your photo's!

Ahh...the Northern Store. What great memories. I still remember doing an exam on a young woman from the community and then stopping in to get some groceries at the Northern. Low and behold, she was my check out girl.....ahhhh embarassing. But welcome to small town living. Enjoy the light.

I love the photos of the scrub brush trees (that's what I think they look like).

my daughter is looking for a teaching position in a remote spot. she is currently working at a fishing camp in the far north of ontario in pickle lake, and just got her bachelor of education.all the best, and if you need luxuries, just get your friends to ship it to you !! i do that for my daughter :)~laura

It's so great to hear from you Vanessa! I can't wait to hear more. Part of me is so envious that you are living out of "the wilderness family" movie... more or less. the other part is so happy to have tim hortons and high heels at my fingertips. you can live vicariously through my summer in the city and ill live vicariously through your summer up north ;)

take care of yourselves!(p.s. thank you for the kind words about my photography)